Comfortable De Villiers Plays Down Pakistan Defeat

South Africa captain AB de Villierssays that despite his side's six-wicket defeat to Pakistan in their final warm-up match, his side are happy with their preparations for the ICC Champions Trophy 2013.

They begin their campaign on Thursday when they play reigning World Cup champions India in the tournament's opening match in Cardiff.

Prior to their defeat to Pakistan, when they made only 202 for nine in their 50 overs, they had comprehensively beaten the Netherlands by 84 runs in Amstelveen.

"It’s never nice to lose like we did today," de Villiers said following the game. "In saying that, you have to take these warm-up games with the right mindset, it’s not really about the result but what you take out from it.

"I was obviously happy with the match in Holland, but the match competitiveness was probably not where we wanted it to be today, we were found short when it came to that."

And de Villiers believes that once the tournament gets underway South Africa will only improve, as they bid to repeat the success they had in the Champions Trophy when they won back in 1998.

"I'm comfortable with where the boys are at right now, the batters have been playing really well," he added. "I’ve watched the guys in the nets and once we get going in the tournament each player will stand out when the time is right.

"From a bowling department I’m really happy. It’s good that the attack got some overs under the belt, each guy had a nice session today and overall I’m very happy with what we took out from today."

Following the match against India, South Africa meet Pakistan again on 10th June and finish their group games agaisnt West Indies on 14th June.